Richard Burleigh Kimball
Richard Burleigh Kimball was an influential American lawyer, businessman, and author born on October 11, 1816, in Plainfield, New Hampshire. He showed remarkable intellectual promise from a young age, passing the entrance exam for Dartmouth College at just eleven years old, although his formal admission was delayed until he reached thirteen. After graduating Phi Beta Kappa in 1834, Kimball studied law, gaining admission to the New York bar in 1836, and furthered his legal education in Paris. He practiced law actively until 1854 when he ventured into business, including serving as president of a railroad he helped establish in Texas.
In addition to his business pursuits, Kimball was a prolific writer, authoring three novels focused on the complexities of finance and morality, among other works that captured the experience of Americans abroad. He maintained a close association with The Knickerbocker magazine, contributing to his recognition in literary circles. Throughout his life, Kimball balanced his legal career and literary ambitions while engaging in various commercial investments, ultimately becoming remembered for both his contributions to business literature and his worldly perspectives. He passed away in New York City on December 28, 1892.
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Richard Burleigh Kimball
Writer
- Born: October 11, 1816
- Birthplace: Plainfield, New Hampshire
- Died: December 28, 1892
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
A descendent of early settlers in western New England, Richard Burleigh Kimball was born in Plainfield, New Hampshire, on October 11, 1816. His parents, Richard and Mary Marsh Kimball, noticed that the youngest of their four children exhibited a precocious talent for learning. With their encouragement, Kimball took and passed the qualifying examination for admission to Dartmouth College when he was only eleven years old. However, because of his youth, college authorities delayed his formal acceptance until he turned thirteen; he spent the interim period, from 1827 to 1830, at a preparatory school in Meriden, New Hampshire. After four years, Kimball graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth in 1834.
He then spent two years studying law before being admitted to the New York bar in 1836. His education did not end there, for Kimball continued his law study in Paris before eventually opening his own firm in New York City, maintaining an active, full-time practice from 1840 to 1854. During that time period, he married Julia Caroline Tomlinson; the couple had five children.
In 1854, Kimball had reached a point in his career when he could cut back on his duties, and he began speculating in a number of business ventures. For six years, he assumed the presidency of a railroad that he helped establish in Texas, where the pioneering spirit that he inherited from his ancestors led him to found a city bearing his name. He died in New York City on December 28, 1892.
From the time he retired from his law practice until his death some thirty years later, Kimball divided his time between commercial investments and literary efforts. Sometimes both areas of interest merged, as with the publication of three novels set in the business world: Undercurrents of Wall Street, Henry Powers, Banker, and Was He Successful?. In these works, the main characters must navigate a path between financial success and moral integrity. Despite his place in the development of the business novel, Kimball is most remembered for those works that reflect his early erudition and cosmopolitan lifestyle, particularly his worldly travels. Novels such as Saint Leger, and Romance of Student Life Abroad, and firsthand travel reports, such as Cuba and the Cubans, reveal the abiding interest of Americans to understand their place in the world. Closely associated with The Knickerbocker magazine, a publication in which many of his works were serialized, Kimball was a successful man of letters and finance who rubbed shoulders with prominent writers and politicians alike.